March 5th

It was indeed even colder this morning! The ground was frozen and there was frost on the grass, but the perishing wind had died down somewhat.

It was a slightly subdued sunrise when I left the house at 6.55 a.m., and in the hour before dawn the robins and blackbirds were subdued as well. The ravens did not call either.

There were no calls when I got to the big field, but I saw one raven sit in a treetop in the spinney, another was sitting in a treetop at the toddlers' playground, both were watching. 

They came down after I'd stood at the enclosure in the big field for a minute or so, getting the scraps out of my pocket, but they kept  their distance because Bas came running up to me. I started throwing the scraps anyway as soon as he'd rushed off - and all three pairs approached to pick up those scraps. 

Again, they turned away and walked off when a single seagull started circling overhead. Karen, who had come up to me, told me that she'd seen a seagull harassing a raven in Pontcanna Fields (that was before she came up to me), who had food in his crop. It was trying to get the food, but the raven flew into a tree and the seagull had to fly away empty-beaked.

Meanwhile, the sun had come up over the rooftops, and more dog walkers populated Llandaff Fields, so the ravens flew off, singly, and did not follow us as we went back down the big field.

I shall try and get out a bit earlier tomorrow, and hope that its being saturday might induce the usual dog walkers to come in a bit later. We're in for another frosty night, with temperatures below freezing - but it will be dry and the sun will rise at 6.45 a.m.